Jemicy Students Interview Vietnam Vets for MD Historical Society Project

This year, Jemicy School students in Ms. Knott's Contemporary World Literature class read Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, an intricately interwoven collection of short stories about a platoon’s experiences in the Vietnam War. As a real world connection, the sophomore students interviewed Maryland’s veterans at the Towson Library as part of Maryland Public Television’s MPT Salutes Vietnam Veterans initiative. Working in collaboration with The Maryland Historical Society and schools across the state, MPT filmed the students interviewing Maryland’s veterans. The videos will be archived under the Vietnam Veterans Oral History Project.

The students were so captivated by the veterans’ stories that they invited local veteran Robert Krebs to visit the school and further recorded his story. They also researched the effects of Agent Orange and the Veterans Administration’s regulations on coverage for Agent Orange-related illnesses. Then in a culminating activity, students wrote letters to their representatives requesting better health coverage for Mr. Krebs and veterans as a whole.